The Meaning of Easter to Me

On Easter, as most holidays (and every day actually), I think about Aaron Franklin, my first-born child who ,years ago ,unfortunately passed away. Easter to me is a holiday that is a reminder that we will be with those that are in heaven one day. This poem is in memory of him today:

Death of a Child
by Sandy Eakle

Sorry I didn't get to stay.
To laugh and run and play.
To be there by your side.
I'm sorry that I had to die.

God sent me down to be with you,
to make your loving heart anew.
To help you look up and see
Both God and little me.
Mommy, I wish I could stay.
Just like I heard you pray.
But, all the angels did cry
when they told little me goodbye.

God didn't take me cause He's mad.
He didn't send me to make you sad.
But to give us both a chance to be
a love so precious .. don't you see?
Up here no trouble do I see
and the pretty angels sing to me.
The streets of gold is where I play
you'll come here too, mommy, someday.

Until the day you join me here,
I'll love you mommy, dear.
Each breeze you feel and see,
brings love and a kiss from me.

Here's hoping that everyone has a good Easter weekend.

What a Friday!

Well, today was very, very busy......so much so this week that the boss bought everybody lunch (and that's alot of folks) today. The weather is turned from rainy to stormy......bad storms. I didn't realize and when I was driving home I turned the radio on and entered more and more dark clouds. As I type, the storms are so bad that we have the radio on and the Bodyguard is assessing constantly the updates. He is wired and I am tired. The weather channel is not promising for these storms. Tornado watch is out now. There was much hail here. Ren is waiting out storm.

The Spring Rain sampler by The Sampler Girl

Here is the finished Spring Rain freebie by The Sampler Girl on her blog At The Honeysuckle Tree. I decided not to coffee stain it because I thought that the blue may darken too much. I substituted the blue for overdyed threads I had in my stash. I like the overdyed effect as the water.

My Ducks in a Row

Well last evening and tonight after work I finished up the Spring Rain sampler from The Sampler Girl. The pattern is a freebie on her blog At the Honeysuckle Tree. http://atthehoneysuckletree.blogspot.com/

I still have to iron it and tomorrow I am going to age it a bit with coffee and see how that goes. I haven't decided if I will frame it or make a hanging pillow with it.

Getting pretty sleepy right now, so I will have to complete tomorrow night. Tomorrow at lunch I will take to work the Be Still sampler and finish it as well. I have taken a break from large samplers and rotated in some smaller finishes. The Spring Rain sampler reminds me of the ducks by the Chattahoochee River. We sometimes go their and feed the ducks a can of corn and they LOVE it.

Great website for stitchers

This morning I found a great resource for stitchers.
http://www.cameoroze.com/101/too_convert.htm
I needed to find a conversion chart for DMC to other threads in my stash and I found this website. Looks like it also has good information on stitching guides, how-to's on different stitches, etc. I have favorited this site because it has alot of conversion charts condensed in one site.

Picture of a Finished S. Bottomley 1827

Here is the website picture of the finished Sarah Bottomley sampler 1827, from the Scarlett Letter. Enjoy! http://www.scarlet-letter.com/rsdescr/19thengl/bottomley.htm

Today is my off day this week and I enjoyed sleeping in and waking up to snow. However, its sunny and not sticking to the ground. Even so, while I took Ren out this morning, it was fun watching the snow fall. Our animals are still getting over us leaving for 5 days! I think Raven is coming around but she is really the dramatic one and didn't hardly eat while we were gone. She slept so hard on Sunday all day. I don't think she slept or ate while we were gone.
Ren came back from boarding at the vet and he also is a baby and almost theatrical at meal times. But, he just ate his "Honey and Oats" cereal and now happy. Although he is blind, he relies heavily on me turning the oven on and especially if bread is cooking and also, he listens for me starting to load the dishwasher after we eat. He suddenly quits whining, knows supper is over. Its hilarious actually. He will be 16 years old in September. He will become catatonic to the word T_R_E_A_T!!!!! So, we have decided if we think he is ill or passed out in the future, we will say the word TREAT and this will revive him!! LOL
Have a great day and stay warm and safe on this chilly Spring day.

Progress on The Sarah Bottomley Sampler from The Scarlett Letter

Whatever the opposite of the happy dance is what I am doing right now because I can't seem to get my camera to focus and get good color. Its just not like my previous Kodak camera! I think a new camera is on my wish list this year, where I can take close-up photos. I think I took about 20 pictures before I could get one to either not appear too dark or too flushed out; however, on a better note, here is my progress on the Sarah Bottomley Sampler from the Scarlett Letter. I love the silk floss colors. I think the teal colors look great with the buttery color of the 30 ct fabric. Fabric and floss kitted from the Scarlet Letter. Sorry about the wrinkles in the linen.

Out of the 800 medical conference attendees last week, I noticed about 5 knitters and myself cross stitching. I think that's the first time I stitched while listening to........gosh, you don't want to know the intimate GYN topics..........but...........got some stitching accomplished. :0

Well, today is the coldest April day I can remember, with snow in the forecast tonight........in Georgia. I'm catching up on email and listening to the world news~~~~no wonder I have insomnia! I'm pretty tired after my first day back at work. I had alot of catching up to do but the Virgo side of me stayed late tonight until I had caught up on paperwork.

Ok, I know my mind is still with work, as I'm thinking to myself and diagnosing a possible thyroid disorder with the news reporter...........LOL

A night time prayer

A Soldier's Prayer

© By Jesse J. Sparks

It's time to sleep I've been relieved
My rifle at my side My knife in it's sheath
Lord let me live another day
As I put myself in harms way
I made my choice, I took the oath
I stand for freedom, but I don't boast
My God, my country, my family
The things I hold so dear
With these all on my side
There's nothing for me to fear
But if I should fall before my next relief
I will stand before you Lord with honor and dignity
So, while I'm here please make me strong
To fight the battles and right what's wrong

God Bless America


What You Believe
© By Zachary T. Anderson

Leaving the places you know,
To fight for what you believe,
You want to defend your home,
You also don't want to leave...
They're sending you overseas,
Where for your country you will fight,
For the peoples freedom and our flag,
And everything you believe is right...
The red, white, and blue,
Are the colors for which you stand,
The fifty stars and thirteen stripes,
Representing your homeland...
The peace at home is disrupted,
And now you have to go away,
But remember that we miss you,
And think about you day by day...
You stand ever so brave,And for us you fight,
Through the burning, hot day,
And the freezing, cold night...
Our men overseas,Keeping us protected,
Walk through a land,Where we are not accepted...Only your will,Will drive you on,
Through the war,From dusk 'till dawn...Just come back soon,
And be with us again,We pray that this war,
Will soon come to an end...


Brandon, I hope you are doing well, getting the best training and do know we are praying for you.
Love,
Momma

I'm Back~~~~trip to Washington, DC

Well, we just got back about 2am this morning and I am so exhausted that I literally have just woke up and now drinking my fully leaded coffee so that I can wake up enough to share some pics with you. First, our new camera is.....well........so not like my last one and I couldn't get the best pics I wanted to but I did flash a few!

Whew! Where do I start? Well, we left Hartsfield Airport on Tuesday and I thought I had planned the flight so that we would get to Washington before peak evening traffic. This did work out well and we were at the hotel by 3ish. The weather was cloudy, misty rain and a bit gloomy but we proceeded on to plan out the rest of our week. We were so excited and found out soon that public transit was going to be the most economical way to get around Washington.

As I have been to Washington only once before and really only went shopping and to the Smithsonian, I had some places in mind to see.

Now, I'm not a history buff, but I'll tell you that this trip was so inspiring. We were surrounded by buildings rich in history and I think the Lincoln memorial was one of the most awe-inspiring ones.

Now, back to Tuesday.......well, we headed off to Union station by public transit and this was supposed to have alot of shops and places to eat. We took some pics of the inside of the station and actually learned more about the history on Friday night during our tour.

While the Bodyguard was scoping out the profiles of people, I went to the bookstore, Ann Taylor, etc. I didn't get anything there but just alot of windowshopping. Then we moseyed back onto the train and got a little confused at the metro station how to transfer over to another one......but anyway......made it back to the hotel.

On Wednesday, we woke up and knew this was one of the main days to be adventurous because I had to attend the work seminar on Thurs, Fri and Sat. So, I told him I wanted to find this "In Stitches" stitching store and that surely Alexandria would be close.........Hahahahaha. To make a long story short we got lost on several occasions but during those times we made a fun time of it.

On the way to Alexandria, we stopped at Arlington Cemetary. I wanted to see where Jackie Kennedy was buried. We were absolutely stunned by this place...its reverence, its vastness, its historical treasure. We walked so much our legs ached, but we finally found Jackie and John's grave site and took some pics. The Cherry Blossoms were at there peak and this was absolutely beautiful. We went up to the Robert E. Lee House and walked through it and incidentally the house reminded me of a sampler house I'm working on called The Sarah Bottomly Sampler by the Scarlet Letter. We then walked back to the bus stop at Arlington and went to the train, onward to Alexandria with a mission to find the stitching shop.

We got off at Alexandria and were so hungry as it was 3ish by this time and kind of confused where we were. But we looked straight ahead and saw a small dutch cafe and knew this was the place we wanted to eat. The food was great. We then took a bus which seemed like it took forever.....to the street where the stitching shop was supposed to be. We got there about 4:20p so I hurried over and then drooled over all the samplers in it and threads. Bodyguard went to McDonalds and waited patiently while I shopped. He is always, always so patient when we go on trips so I was having so much fun. We definitely had an adventure from the hotel to the stitching shop.

I got a magnifying mirror that hangs with a string so I could see better when stitching on the trip, some Thread Heaven thread conditioner, a "Hero" military project, and a Ewe and Eye small sampler with threads and linen. I also got a very small wooden lavender needle holder which is so cute.

We headed back to the hotel by bus again, then the train. We were so exhausted and arrived about 8:30p so we went to the pub at the hotel and got delectable crabfish and shrimp gumbo with a raspberry martini. This is not something I usually take with Dramamine but I did because I was so nauseated by the riding in the bus, let's say I slept well that night.

When I got to the room and thumbed through the USA Today paper I saw where the White House was threatened, a target on Tuesday due to political issues with the Taliban so then I became a little afraid. We knew the President was in London at this time so maybe we were ok.

Thursday, the seminar was a complete day until 5p including a luncheon which discussed family planning issues.

Thursday night we met some old friends of the Bodyguard at Pentagon City. We talked over dinner for about 2 hours. He had not seen them in 20 years and this was the first time I met them. They were such nice folks too. Jeff and Doris were living near the military station there and caught us up on what had happened over the years.

On Friday, I went again to the seminar but starting to get extremely exhausted. That evening we went on the Washington Tour which was designed especially for the seminar participants. The tour guide was a lovely lady about 70 who knew every last detail of Washington history.

The tour was 5 hours and we did cover so much, I couldn't believe it. Alot of the tour was on foot, which I didn't realize and it was so windy and cold, sometimes it was hard to enjoy the sites or hear her speak. In the midst of the tour, they dropped us off at Union Station to eat dinner. We went by many, many historical buildings, the White House, the Capitol, walked in front of the Capitol and the White House, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean memorial, the Vietnam wall, the nurses memorial, the Blair House, the church where the Kennedys got married, and on and on.

Saturday, I went to the conference which was only half-day and then we hurried over by train again to the Smithsonian. I wanted to see the First Lady dresses again. I can't tell you enough how the crowds were so tight. Now, I have been to Disneyworld during peak times of the year and had not seen crowds of this caliber! The train was so crowded that you literally had to hold a breath before you stopped to get off at the next site. I vowed never to go on Cherry Blossom weekend again. Evidently the Cherry Blossom parade was yesterday and I can't describe how many people were there! The line at the Smithsonian was very long and we really only got to see the First Ladies section but there was construction so all the dresses were not displayed, a big dissapointment. We had to walk several stations down the road to get on one where we could actually move through the crowds to get back to the hotel. We finally made it back and waited on another bus to take us to the airport. I didn't realize when purchasing plane tickets that I had selected Dulles airport for the way back and oh, my, we had a 1 hour ride on a very bumpy bus to the airport. Then we ate at Cinnabon, went through security and and on and on until we arrived home at 2 am.

I did do alot of stitching in the late evenings and even took it into the conference while listening. I will post a pic later today of my progress.......off for another cup of Joe!

Jennifer